Things are hotting up......

So only 2 weeks today until DDs wedding, things are getting even busier. She decided to ask me this week what she should do for a bouquet.... argh!!! So went on e-bay and found the perfect one, e-mailed the lady to ask if it would be ready in time, but luckily she was willing to sell the already made one to us as long as we didn't want it changed and we didn't.... I also asked if she could do 3 buttonholes as this is what is required, and she agreed to that. They turned up next day.... hows that for service... so another to do crossed off the list. On to the favours, she had no idea what she wanted, so we ended up picking some little love hearts and heart shaped jelly beans, now I just need to make and decorate 63 boxes. Have cut out and stuck names on 63 place cards, need to make some decorations for them now, but have been very busy finishing my card orders, plus a birthday card for a boy whose party all the children are going to tomorrow, and a Mother's day card for my mum who arrives back today from a three week holiday in Portugal.... It was also DDs Hen Night last night, and we did the normal embarrass her type thing, we made her wear a pink fluffy cowboy hat with flashing lights, a sash saying Bride to Be and some L plates, although we did join in with pink fluffy and silver tiaras... and a nice Girls Night Out flashy sign on our table. Considering that DD is now 30 weeks pregnant and started the week off in Hospital we had a not too alcohol fuelled Hen party starting with a meal at Wetherspoons. I think a good time was had by all!!

Here are some of the cards I made for the first card order..... some were inspired by some card magazines I have bought lately and some were closely copied (only one I think), but cannot remember who to credit them too, so if you recognise any of these cards, please let me know who you are and I will credit them to you.

Here goes....

Other news for the week, I have just got a new puppy to join our cocker spaniel (3 years) and pug (1 year), it is a great dane puppy (yes I am mad) and she is absolutely gorgeous, unfortunately she doesn't have little accidents in the house.... they are totally ginormous. She has just about managed to make two sets of stairs to my bedroom now, although I have to struggle down stairs carrying her as her legs just go in all directions. She is desperate to please tho and I have managed to train her to sit, so hopefully the rest will follow quickly. We are not letting her jump up, we are petting her if she sits as one day she will knock us flying if she was to jump up at us, so trying to set good rules whilst she is young.

My mothers day present turned up today, a cross trainer, but it is a nightmare putting it together, have got DD doing that at the moment, but will need to go help her before I go to work. Joined weightwatchers a week and a half ago and at this weeks weigh in had lost 7lb, so really pleased, although I did blow it at the hen night last night, but back on track today.

Have a good weekend all.... xx

Busy Weekend...

Been busy as usual, the older children started their half term on Friday, worked Friday and Saturday night, and did the usual geocaching Sunday. We did a geocache on the site of the Rettendon Murders (the film Essex Boys is based around this story) and whilst looking for the cache, some very scary people walked down the muddy track towards us, we quickly logged our find and left, think they may have been relatives of those shot dead at that site. Also did 3 others, not sure how we always end up in the woods after dark, but it is great fun!!

Made a card on Saturday...

this is for my order of 12 that I have each month... and good news this ladies friend also wants 12 cards a month, so this will keep me busy, now maybe I will have to stop chatting so much on UKS.

DDs nearly sister-in-law had her baby on Sunday, a boy like they had been told it was, so I had to make a card for this event too..

I have now started a list on all the things I need to make, each day I rub some of the things out, but then I remember others so add more... lol I think it is a never ending list.

Spent most of today making DHs valentine card, not sure if he reads my blog, so cannot post a photo until after Thursday... watch this space, clue:- it is not your usual run of the mill Valentine card.

My car went into the garage today, has been playing up for weeks and at one time we did think DH had fixed it, but unfortunately not. Bad news, it is probably the turbo and it could have an electrical fault, the garage which it was at do not do "electrical" so it needed to go somewhere about 15 miles away. I could take it but I had no way of getting home, plus all the children are at home, so could have got there, but we wouldn't have all fitted in anyones car to get home, except my Mum's car, and she is in Portugal for 3 weeks.... at least it is half term and I dont really need the car. It cost £50 just to take the car to Colchester on the back of a low loader, and I still have to pick it up from there once it is fixed.... "electrical" sounds expensive to me, but I really need a car as we live out in the sticks!! Bus fairs for the older children to go to school is £3.50 return, so that would cost me £50 a week just for the children to get to school!!

Have received some of the items I have ordered, I ordered a lot of the K&Co Saffron range as I want to make a mini book of Marrakech using those papers, just waiting for Artymiss to deliver my order, ordered it last Wednesday and it still hasn't arrived, the only one of many not to turn up. Blonde Moments extra thick embossing powder turned up today, bought some new dies from e-bay and some of the We R Memory Keepers Designer eyelets and snaps, been meaning of buy these for a while. Also ordered some little handles for my mini albums, some magnetic clasps, and my new Tim Holtz rubber stamp tin in which now live my stamps... just loving these Tim Holtz tins, and it seemed a waste just buying the tin, so bought some more Tim Holtz stamps too... Oh yeah, mustnt forget my new star Nestabilities too, love those dies!! Oh yeah not forgetting the 6 Colorbox fluid chalk cats eyes stackers.

Right off to cook our dinner, have a good evening all xx

New Lola Stamps

So my first card with the new Lola stamps from http://www.funkykits.co.uk/. Have also been using my new spring glitter stack from DCWV aswell, lovely glittery paper. Have also received today, some new little knobs which you can use for your mini books, they look so cool, also some mini keys to use on my Tim Holtz style tags, and some really gorgeous watch faces too. Have also had a couple of new dies turned up, sizzix alphabet and a baby with a teddy bear. Hope to get round to using those soon too....

Have fallen by the wayside with my money diet, so will have to continue it next week.... so hard with so much really cool stash stuff!!

Took the girls geocaching today and found a new travel bug, will have to photograph that later with DS's football table as it is a football travel bug. The weather was so gorgeous today, lovely sun whilst we walked along the sea wall and it was quite an easy find too, although nowhere near where we thought it would be....

Right off to work... have a good evening all xx

New Sugar Nellie Challenge

So Monday night saw the new Sugar Nellie Challenge blog go live, you can find it here at http://sweetsugarchallenges.blogspot.com/. Please spread the word and enter into our challenges which will be set every 2 weeks.... strange but all the DT went for the Rockstar stamp this time, and there was no conferring, so will have to try and think a bit out of the box next time. Here is my attempt....




Have bought some new Sugar Nellie stamps, you can find them here... http://www.funkykits.co.uk/ and they arrived today, unfortunately haven't had time to try them out yet as my 3 new books from US turned up today, and I have spent time looking at them, all about mini books etc. I have also splurged on some UK ones too, so have been reading them aswell, and trying to have a bit of a rest as Monday and yesterday were pretty manic!! Am waiting on a couple of parcels so that I can start my Marrakech mini book, I suppose I could print out the photographs ready.


Have at last finished DDs wedding invitations, they have changed registry offices to a larger much nicer one, so have invited more to the daytime part (but luckily I had made extra of those invites) and booked a larger hall too, so more evening invites were needed, so had to rush and make those yesterday. Hopefully now they are finished. Have to practise my photography skills now as she wants me to take some photos of her wedding, luckily the registry office has a nice garden to take some pics.

Went geo-caching at the weekend (look at previous post for more information on geo-caching) and managed to find a local one, then Sunday when we came out of church we popped to one close by, but despite 8 of us hunting for around 20 minutes we couldn't find it, so logged we couldn't find it. The person who had started the cache checked it out and it was gone!! They have put another one close by but more hidden and posted the new co-ordinates, so quickly popped there after school and not only was there a first to find coin but a travel bug too..... I was just tooooo excited!!! Visit www.geocaching.com to find out what all my excitement is about. It is very good exercise and gets us out of the house and doing something as a family too!! We also found another three later Sunday afternoon and this entailed us traipsing around the woods after dark howling like werewolfs!! (Dont ask)!!
Anyway, off to finish reading my books before having to start dinner.... have a good evening all xx

As Promised, Long Post......

Okay all, sorry I haven't posted for so long, but have been really busy, and set to making a mini book on my trip to Barcelona (in January 2007, so long overdue)... it was made using 7 Gypsies zanzibar papers and clip, brads rub-ons etc. This has taken me a while to complete in between all my other chores. Here it is...

Yes excuse DH for washing his feet in the bidet!!

Luckily I had nearly finished this book when DD2 announced she is getting married on 14th March, and would I make the invites... what could I say, I had made DS1s invites a couple of years ago, so I set too making one that they could alter and guess what, they loved it, so have just finished them, I also took the photograph of them used in the Wedding Invite, here they are, I made everything myself including the heart embellishment, I sat for ages twirling the wire.

And the evening one I made which is a slightly slimmed down version....

So far this year, I have almost stuck to my anything diet... I must not buy anything and must concentrate on paying off our visa card... well I haven't quite succeeded, but spent far less this month than I would normally done, and on quite a few occassions have added bits to my basket, then shut the page completely without ordering it. Not sure I will be that good once the new Magnolia stamps arrive at either http://www.sillymonkey.co.uk/ or http://www.funkykits.co.uk/. Unfortunately DHs car tax needed renewing in January so that cost £180 and I think mine may be due this month... so all in all fighting a losing battle with money!!

DS1 told me last week, guess what?? I hate guessing so got him to tell me that they were on their way back from buying a flat... good on them. This is their first place as they have been renting now for a few years, so I am really excited for them. They got a good deal on a mortgage by using our financial advisor and they said they really made him work for his money, but in future when their fixed rate runs out, he will find them new mortgages for free, this is what he does for us every couple of years!!

Went to see Sweeney Todd on Wednesday evening... I really loved it, so much so that I made DD3 go watch it last night so that I could discuss it with her, she also loved it... I guess being avid Johnny Depp fans did help!! Quite a surprise for me at the end as I didn't know the story of Sweeney Todd before seeing this, and seeing Sacha Baron Cohen in it was quite amusing too!!

Went Geo-caching again last weekend and finally found the one that has had us stumped for a couple of weeks, and can you believe it, a fellow UK Scrappers member beat me to it... and left a message for me!!! DOH!! Have now managed to find a pair of wellies to fit round my fat calves and so can now do caches that involve stomping in puddles!!! he he he Also managed to get a programme called CacheMagnet to work with my ipod, it logs all the notes etc and saves me a fortune in printing out the caches we are going to visit. If you are bored and dont know what to do with your kids during weekends and holidays, you could well enjoy geocaching, doesn't cost much other than the initial outlay for a GPS. Visit this site to find out more... http://www.geocaching.com/.

I had my hair cut yesterday, after a few weeks of being really fed up with it and hating it, but not quite getting round to having it cut, I succumbed to vanity yesterday and had it done. I am really pleased with it and it took less time to wash and dry this morning, so double bonus.

Right, off to think about making my Sugar Nellie card for the DT... check out the webpage http://sweetsugarchallenges.blogspot.com/. The first challenge as I have said before, goes live Monday evening, and new challenges will be posted every 2 weeks.

I get a monthly scrapbooking kit from US, and this months looks super scrummy.... I just love receiving kits with lots of different papers and embellishments to match too... http://www.scrap-room.com/, they also have add on clubs, a stamp club, embellishment club and bazzill card club, plus special offer kits most months too, which I am trying my hardest to resist.

No snow here yet, just nice brilliant sunshine, although it is a bit cold.... have a good day all wherever you are. xx